


Stephanie Brown Doesn't Always Miss Her Mark

by EleanorC



Series: Fictober19 - Timtober2019 [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Fictober 2019, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Shenanigans, Shopping, Somehow this turned into an coffeeshop AU, Timtober (DCU)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-08 23:28:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20843798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EleanorC/pseuds/EleanorC
Summary: Fictober19, Timtober2019 Day 1 - "It will be fun, trust me." and "Fashion".“It will be fun, trust me,” Steph says as she drags Tim in the direction of the mall.He huffs, but despite his protests, he does stop struggling. “That’s what you said last time.”It's true, thatiswhat she said last time. But even Tim has to admit the results this time are better.





	Stephanie Brown Doesn't Always Miss Her Mark

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So this is a bit of a last minute decision, but I've decided to combine the Timtober and Fictober prompts for the whole October prompt fiasco going on. 
> 
> I do not expect to actually do this during October, but hopefully, I'll be able to work through it all eventually. 
> 
> Not edited or beta'd, so be warned xD.

“It will be fun, trust me,” Steph says as she drags Tim in the direction of the mall. 

He huffs, but despite his protests, he does stop struggling. “That’s what you said last time.”

A grin is thrown his way, but she doesn’t slow down. “Aw, come on. You had fun with the bubblegum challenge. Admit it.” 

He sends the most intense deadpan look he can manage at the back of his best friend’s head, but she hasn’t quite developed the second sight for that yet that his family has. 

“I did not.” 

“Lies.”

“Steph, the bubblegum challenge is the reason my hair is this short now. I had a bald patch for weeks.” 

She doesn’t deign to answer that. 

Tim is still in the suit he wore for the board meeting Steph practically kidnapped him out of, and with the sweltering heat of the summer sun beating down on them, he feels his shirt rapidly starting to stick to his skin with dampness. Part of him thinks he’d be even more miserable if his hair was still as long as it had been during summer. 

He neglects to mention that thought to his companion. She’d just get smug. 

What follows is two hours of being used as Stephanie’s personal dress-up doll. Somewhere along the way, she got her hands on one of Bruce’s credit cards, which means Tim is pretty sure he’s going to have to throw some of his current clothes out to make it fit in his closet. 

Which might be exactly what Steph is after. 

“Please,” Tim moans after the fifth shop they exit, his arms sagging under the weight of all the bags he’s carrying. “No more.”

He’d ask Steph what she needs all this stuff for, but they’ve only bought him clothes, and he knows for sure, that he doesn’t need any of it. 

It’s not the clothes themselves that bother him. Steph hasn’t been his friend for years for nothing, after all. She knows what he likes. Every single article hidden in the bags is stylish in that cool nerd way steph tells him he rocks, while still being comfy enough for Tim to move or lounge in. 

The problem is that he didn’t need any replacements for his current wardrobe. Sure, it’s been a while since he’s bought anything new and some of his favorite shirts are starting to get a bit on the holey side. But he’s not done with them yet!

The second part of the problem is that all this stuff is just a step or two fancier than what he usually wears in his day to day. Steph is up to something, but he can’t quite figure out what. 

It makes him on edge. 

“One more stop, Timbers.” 

He doesn’t even attempt to suppress the groan that bubbles up his throat. 

He juggles the bags around a bit so he can tug at the loose shirt he changed into after the first shop. He doesn’t usually wear new clothes without washing them first, but he’d have done just about anything to get out of his suit at that point. 

Which is why he’d currently sporting dark blue skinny jeans that somehow manage to be comfortable, a band shirt that’s just oversized enough to fall off one of his shoulders after he tugs at the collar, and his favourite pair of converse (the fact that Steph brought those along for the trip only serves to make him more suspicious). His regular watch and a thick leather bracelet sit comfortably on his left wrist. 

When he notices which shop they are approaching, he starts struggling to get away again, but Steph came prepared (he knew there was a reason she was making him carry all this stuff on his own), and it takes way too little effort for her to tug him inside anyway. 

“Steph,” he protests, “I really don’t need—”

“Yes, you do,” she interrupts him, “you’ve had the same set as long as I’ve known you, and you’re not even wearing them recently. Those studs were cute when you were fifteen, now they’re just sad.” 

It’s true. He’d been thinking about changing them out for ages, but then the bubblegum challenge happened, and he’d been forced to cut his hair. 

“I can’t hide them under my hair now, Steph,” he complains, “the board gives me enough shit already. I don’t need to give them more fuel to complain to Lucius about the nineteen year old CEO.” 

“Oh, hush. We both know Lucius doesn’t give a shit about that. Neither does Bruce.” She has a point. Doesn’t mean he has to like it. “And you’ve been annoyed with them all for ages, so why you care is a mystery.”

Tim should know better than to fight Steph on days like this. She gets what she wants, and if she doesn’t, she’s not afraid to set Cass on your ass. 

“Fine.”

In the end, he can’t argue with the results. 

When he leaves the shop, two tungsten hoops with carbon fiber inlays grace his right earlobe. 

“Please tell me we’re done now?” He’s not ashamed to admit that he’s whining.

“Yeah, you big baby, we’re done.” Steph has an amused tone to her voice, and it makes Tim instantly on edge again. Which is probably why she distracts him with his biggest vice. Coffee. 

“Hey, look,” she gasps, “they have a new frap at the Coffee Grind! Can you get me one while I go get the car? Come, I’ll take those bags off you.”

He  _ knows _ it’s a probably a diversion of some sort, and yet he falls for it hook, line, and sinker. 

When had his last cup been? 

“Steph, those things are ghastly, don’t make me order one.” 

They both know it’s only a token protest, and Steph doesn’t even answer. She just winks and walks off. 

Tim shakes his head with a smile on his face as he watches her walk off before turning and heading over to the shop Steph had so kindly pointed out. 

The moment he opens the door, he realizes he’s fallen into her trap. 

His heart jumps and his breath catches as he sees the barista's eyes widen in surprise. 

Jason. 

Since when does Jason have a day job? 

Tim walks up to the counter in a daze, absently noting that the shop is empty for the moment. 

“Hi.” Jason’s voice shocks him out of his stupor. 

“Hey.” A quick look at the name badge. “I didn’t know you worked here, Jay.” 

It earns him a chuckle. “It’s a recent thing.” 

A somewhat awkward, but not fully uncomfortable silence follows. 

“Can I get you anything?” Jason asks after a while. 

Right, he’s here for a reason. “One of those summer specials, and one large cold brew, please.” 

“Coming right up.”

It’s after he’s paid, while Jason is making that god awful sugar disaster for Steph, that Tim notices Jason keeps throwing glances at him. That his eyes dart to his hair, and his earrings, before drifting to his shoulder, only to settle on his shirt. 

“You know,” Jason starts as he hands Tim his drinks, “if you like Indie Rock, there’s a small festival at Robinson Park next Saturday.”

He knows, and Jason would probably suspect that as well. 

“If you want, maybe we can go together?” 

That makes him pauze and really look at Jason. His cheeks are red and he’s not quite looking him in the eye, opting to look over his shoulder instead. 

It almost seems like…

“You mean like a date?” Tim asks, struggling to keep his voice neutral, but he thinks he sounds more hopeful then he’d like. 

“Yeah…”

Jason still won’t look at him, and has now turned to grab a cloth to wipe down the counters. 

Does he really think Tim doesn’t notice him glancing in his direction every few seconds?

When Jason’s done with with the counters, he turns and looks in his approximate direction again to say, “look, it was just an idea, no need to—”

“Yes,” Tim interrupts, causing Jason to finally look him in the eye again. “I’d like that.” 

“Oh, um. Alright.” 

It takes a while, but a few seconds later he sees the grin stretching his face mirrored on Jason’s. 

The moment is broken when another customer enters. 

“I’ll let you get back to work,” he says, turning towards the door. “Text me the details?” 

“Right, yeah.” Jason stumbles over his words a bit as he makes his way back to the register. “I… will do that.” 

The moment Tim exits the shop, Steph is honking at him from the purple monstrosity that is her car. 

He scrambles to get in, and the moment he’s seated, she takes off. 

A vague sense of wonder still overwhelms him at the prospect of a date with  _ Jason _ . 

“Your face is red,” Steph notes as she sips her frappuccino at a traffic light. 

He doesn’t answer the question. “Did you know Jason works at Coffee Grind?” 

Or maybe he does, it sure makes Steph cackle. 

“Mayyybee,” She drawls, “I bet he couldn’t take his eyes of you.” 

Oh god. She’d planned this. She’d  _ so _ planned this.

“That’s one way of putting it,” Tim grumbles. 

That just makes Steph cackle louder, and if he didn’t know just how well she can drive, he would have been worried about their safety. 

“And?” She asks after she’s gotten her breath back. 

“And, what?” 

“Did he say anything?”

She knows. He doesn’t know how, but she definitely knows. “... We’re going on a date next Saturday.”

The whoop Steph lets out makes the man in the next car over look at them in shock. 

“That’s my boy!” Is she talking about Jason or him?

“Yeah, yeah. Calm down.” 

Steph, predictably, wants to know everything. Where are they going? What time are they meeting? Are they going for dinner first? 

The fact that Tim doesn’t know any of these things himself yet doesn’t discourage her in the slightest. 

It’s not until they’re heaving all the bags from Steph’s trunk in Tim’s underground garage that she reveals the true scope of her scheming. 

“Aren’t you glad I’ve bought you a whole bunch of date-worthy outfits now?” 

He groans. 

“I hate you.”

Steph chuckles, and in her fondest tone, says, “no, you don’t.”

She’s right of course, he doesn’t.


End file.
